Dubai Shopping

Learn how a new app called VoucherSkout can easily save you decent amounts of money on things you have to buy regularly like food. But it’s not only regular food shopping that’s discounted, read on to see why we like this genuine money saving app.

What is VoucherSkout ?

VoucherSkout is a newish app developed and started in Dubai that provides chunky savings (we’re talking 30% to 50%) on a variety of categories of products and services across the UAE. We really like the money it saved us on regular food shopping.

VoucherSkout is available on both Google Play and Apple Stores depending on your phone. Registering is easy, you’ll just need your email address, mobile number and a 4 digit number you can remember! This number will act as a pin code that you’ll need later to access your vouchers.

GENUINE DISCOUNTS EASY TO AVAIL

How does VoucherSkout work?

In order to access VoucherSkout’s generous discounts, you’ll need to first purchase some inexpensive credits up front. These credits are then safely stored within the virtual wallet of the app. You then use these credits to redeem the vouchers, which, in effect, are your ticket for those chunky discounts we spoke about above.  And that’s it!

You get to decide which discounts you want to use,  so you’re in complete control of what those credits you purchased earlier are used for.  You also get a generous eighteen months from the date you purchase the credits to use them before they expire.

How much are the credits and what’s the minimum number of credits I need to buy to get going?

The price of the credits depends on the number you buy, so the more credits you buy, the cheaper each credit is and so the less you pay to purchase the voucher or ticket that gives you your 30% or 50% discount.

I bought 10 credits to start with and that book of credits cost me AED 65 so an initial total outlay of AED 65 with each credit costing AED 6.50.

OK so how do I get big discounts off my food shop?

VoucherSkout has teamed up with Food Crowd; their key food shopping partner here in the UAE. Food Crowd in turn owns Aldahra farms and so has direct access to a big variety of every days items that are fresh AND organic.

You’ll definitely recognize some of the brands of produce under their umbrella.

So each time you shop with Food Crowd via VoucherSkout, your outlay would be just 2 credits you purchased up front. These credits then generate your 30% off voucher code that you apply using the promo code box at the checkout on the foodcrowd.com website (or app)

So if you bought like I did the minimum credit book, you’d be paying AED 13 to “buy/generate” your voucher code.

I’m confused give me an example and do I have to download the Food Crowd app separately to the VoucherSkout app?

No, it’s not necessary to download the Food Crowd app if you don’t want to, but I did anyway. You can also place your grocery order on the foodcrowd.com website if you prefer to shop on a larger screen.  

The advantage of using the Food Crowd app is that it makes copy/pasting the VoucherSkout code really simple and also for setting the location of where you want your groceries to be delivered to etc.

BUT when you come to PAY for your total cart, you simply put in your VOUCHER CODE that you have generated using your pre bought credits we spoke about above from VoucherSkout. Then your bill automatically has 30% deducted off the total. See one of my genuine bills below.

Yes but like so many % discounts is there a CAP on the amount of the actual discount, as in ride sharing apps?

NO there isn’t! BUT you do have to spend a minimum of AED 200 with Food Crowd (that’s so easy on a weekly food shop!) to be entitled to the discount of 30% with them. So if your bill was AED 200 you’d get AED 60 off, paying just AED 140.

But if your bill was AED 2000, you’d get AED 600 off, paying just AED 1400!

That is both unusual and a very good reason to buy a bit more as the more you spend the more you save, literally.

But is the food from Food Crowd expensive in the first place and what’s the quality like?

That’s a really important point. The food on offer via Food Crowd is:

• reasonably priced in the first place

• AND it’s good quality too.

I bought generally from the fresh produce section, so think raspberries, blueberries, celery, leeks etc. I also bought a very good organic chicken for AED 52 before the discount!

I made a roast chicken dinner, then made stock with the carcass, used that for broth the next day and also made a chicken, mushroom and leek (all also bought from Food Crowd) pie for the next day! But there are only 2 members in our household at the moment!

How long in advance did you have to order your shopping

I ordered in the morning and got my full order delivered to my door within the hour I specified that same afternoon. The 2nd time I ordered the first delivery slot they could give me was for the next day but that was just after the Eid break and I believe a lot of people were ordering.

OK but what else can I get discounts on and how much of a discount?

When you open the app you will see a number of categories of products and services you can avail discounts on. Visits to the cinema, beauty treatments and many restaurants as well as visits to Dubai Parks and Resorts.

VoucherSkout is working on onboarding more vendors to it’s app but to give you an idea at the higher end of the spectrum, you can eat (and so avail a 50% discount) at the following places:

Luchador Mexican restaurant at the Loft Pam Jumeirah

Chapters The Retreat Palm Jumeirah

Frevo at the Fairmont on the Palm

and Shukuji Sushi at Wasl Vita Mall

What’s the minimum amount I need to spend to get 50% off at restaurants and is it 50% off my total bill?

Each restaurant’s terms and conditions vary slightly, but what seems to be the norm is the voucher you generate using your credits in your wallet is good for 50% off the food bill whether you dine alone or with a friend.

To avail 50% off for 3 or 4 people you’d just buy more credits to generate another voucher. Generally the discount works with anything you order a la carte but isn’t valid in conjunction with any other offer or promotion the restaurant is running. 

VoucherSkout, unlike other discount apps, also works for odd numbered groups to get the full value of the discount on offer.

I like the fact YOU CAN ODER WHAT YOU LIKE and still get the discount, it doesn’t have to be buy one dish, get one main free type of thing.

So maybe the byline of the app Enjoy More really does make sense!

Paying AED 65 up front to get at least a 30% discount on a AED 200 food shop is worth a try. Or use your credits to get 50% off money you were going to spend anyway on eating out.

note

This post was written in conjunction with VoucherSkout but the views are all my own.